Joseph Solis-Mullen | The Libertarian Institute

The Fake China Threat and Its Very Real Danger

by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Jul 25, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

From the front pages of The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, the Economist, to The New York Times’ Best Sellers List; from CNN and MSNBC to FOX and NEWSMAX; from think tanks to Pentagon planners, congressional testimonies and White House statements: CHINA! So singularly focused and omnipresent has the narrative of the China Threat become, one can be forgiven for forgetting that China is in fact a middle income country of modest capabilities and with no stated intention of doing any harm to Americans or the United States. Further, that China is not bent on world...

A Vital Book for Sane People

by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Jul 18, 2022 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The top seller on Amazon for books devoted to war and peace as of this writing, Scott Horton's newest offering, Hotter than the Sun: Time to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, is a timely must read. As Washington barrels heedlessly along into Cold War II, the American public badly needs educating on the current risks, past close calls, and the utter insanity of an entire for-profit industry built on the flawed concept of thousands of thermonuclear bombs as “weapons” that keep us safe. With major papers like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times now regularly running pieces arguing everything from...

The People Crafting U.S. Policy Aren’t in America

by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Jun 30, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Politics

In a piece of news that shocked the mainstream media, but which shocked no one familiar with the academic industry writ large, retired U.S. Army general John Allen was forced to resign as president of the Brookings Institution after it was revealed the FBI was investigating him for lobbying on behalf of the Qatari monarchy. Of course, the real news, scarcely noted by The Washington Post, New York Times, or any other purported paper of record, is that Allen was only really in trouble because he hadn't fulfilled the pro forma legal requirements for those lobbying the U.S. government on behalf...

Don’t Confuse the Falkland Islands for Taiwan

by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Oct 13, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Though the conflict is little known in the United States, Chinese military planners have long obsessed over what lessons can be gained from studying the brief 1982 conflict between Argentina and Great Britain over the small collection of islands in the South Atlantic near the tip of South America—the Falklands—and for good reason. Its location, historical context, and the nature of the conflict between the powers involved more closely mirror the current standoff over Taiwan than any other example in modern war. Drawing lessons from history is a tricky business, however. And while Chinese...

The Phony Threat of Chinese Dominance

by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Aug 11, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

While the US has its problems, future global Chinese supremacy won’t be one. Far from being in a position of overwhelming strength, China and its Communist leadership face imminent multifront domestic crises that will threaten the existence not only of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) but the existence of the Chinese state as a unified whole. Further, there are several insurmountable obstacles to it seriously disturbing core US interests or expanding its influence much beyond its own coasts before this happens. First, China’s geography is terrible if projecting power is a state aim. Endless...